


Advanced Research (Extended Mix)

by minkhollow



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: EWE, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-18
Updated: 2009-05-18
Packaged: 2017-10-02 09:35:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minkhollow/pseuds/minkhollow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war, everyone's got pieces to pick up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Advanced Research (Extended Mix)

**Author's Note:**

> An expansion of a piece by the same non-parenthetical name that I wrote for January's porn battle; the idea insisted on some expansion. Thanks to Gehayi for the beta-read.  
> I am not JK Rowling; I'm just borrowing for fun.

Parvati doesn't want to go back to Hogwarts.

"We should be done," she says, when she and Padma get their letters at the end of June. "We were there for all of last year, in case anyone didn't notice."

Padma sighs. "I think they did notice - among other things, that we weren't exactly being taught quality lessons in all cases. And they'd rather rectify that before anyone takes that stuff as fact."

"Most of us were smart enough not to in the first place. You'd think they would give us that much credit! Especially for those of us who fought."

"In the middle of all that fuss, we never took NEWTs. Besides, you could look at it as an opportunity to learn more."

Parvati rolls her eyes. "You and your learning experiences. I know enough to do what I want. I don't want to go back to school, particularly not just to sit some exams."

Unfortunately for Parvati, their father is very much on the side of the girls returning to school. Parvati still fights it, until he points out it's what their mother would want, if she were in any condition to comment; it's a low blow to the mama's girl of the pair, but it works.

The next time they go to St. Mungo's, Neville's there as well - small surprise, as his parents are only a few rooms down from their mother. His parents are undeniably in worse shape, since there's a chance their mother might recover a little if given several years, but the experience, atop trying to hold the Hogwarts resistance movement together, has given them something of a common bond.

"You two coming back to Hogwarts?" he says.

"Of course," Padma replies; Parvati just nods, and retreats toward their mother's room.

Neville smiles. "Good. It wouldn't be the same place without you two around."

"No, it would be that much paler. Doubly so, if Zabini doesn't come back." Padma's not really holding her breath on that one. Zabini was polite enough, the few times they talked, but never particularly interested in furthering his education.

Neville's smile grows a bit at her remark, though it doesn't last long. "I'm trying to see who's coming back and who isn't, so far as I can contact people. Haven't had much luck so far, but it's something to do."

"If you think there's any way I could help, do let me know."

"Thanks. I expect it'll get easier as September gets closer, but more organisation never hurts."

Padma smiles, a bit sadly. "We know that all too well."

***

Hermione decides that the first thing she has to do, after the battle's over, is go to Australia and collect her parents.

It becomes about the fifth thing, in the end. The school needs quite a bit of cleaning up, if it's going to be remotely ready for students in the fall. There are several funerals to attend, even after she and Harry and Ron decide to stick to those for the people they knew best. And Harry... well, he's out of sorts, not completely mad but not entirely sane either; he asks for Hermione's help in tracking down someone with some remove from the whole sorry affair that he can talk to.

It's mid-July before she has the time to go. She finds her mother in Canberra, but a few minutes' eavesdropping at her dental office tells her things have gone horribly wrong.

"How's the divorce settlement going?" the receptionist asks.

Hermione's mother - or, well, Monica Wilkins - sighs. "As well as can be expected. I don't know what's got into Wendell's head or why he feels the need to go all the way to London to prove it, but he's just going to have to do it alone."

Hermione's heard enough, after that. Evidently, when she did her spell work, she failed to keep in mind her tendency to be the best at everything. As for her father, well, she did try it on him first. And now, it seems she can only hope she didn't muck things up to the point where he'll be hurting for the rest of his life.

All she can think on the plane back to London, though, is that she has.

***

Professor McGonagall sends an additional letter to all of the students who agree to come back for an extra year. At least, Padma presumes everyone agreeing to it is getting the additional letter, since Parvati gets one as well.

_As you are officially beyond the Ministry-determined age of compulsory education,_ it says, _I and your fellow teachers have deemed it appropriate to present you with a special arrangement. Should you choose to accept it, the Board of Governors and the Ministry have agreed to accept the completion of an independent academic project, preferably connected to the field which you wish to enter for your professional life, as the sum of your remaining work at Hogwarts. Passage of any necessary NEWTs is, of course, required; however, the Ministry will hold special examination sessions before Christmas in order to accommodate anyone who is finished by the end of winter term._

Padma knows it's nothing Parvati will be interested in undertaking - in fact, she expects to hear about it at great length, over at least the next week. But for her own part, she's intrigued. She likes the sound of an opportunity to learn more about something that fascinates her, and already knows what she's likely to look into.

If the library's got any volumes from or about India, anyway. She knows a few wizards went along on colonising missions, in the nineteenth century, but she doesn't know how much they wrote down, or whether they brought anything back.

_You will have one week from your arrival to determine the nature of your special project, should you choose to do one,_ the letter says. Padma thinks that should be plenty of time to scour the library for resources.

***

Hermione could never turn down an opportunity to learn something more, not from her earliest days; coming back from Canberra to the Hogwarts letters waiting at the Burrow is, under the circumstances, a dream come true. She'd been meaning to find out if she could finish her Hogwarts education anyway, and after what she found in the attempt to bring her parents home...

Well. Suffice to say, academia is precisely the kind of distraction she needs, right now. Harry calls it a coping mechanism, and maybe he's right, but Hermione doesn't feel like this is the sort of thing she can talk to a professional about. Not yet, anyway.

Ron thinks she's mad for wanting to do one of the independent projects, until she points out that she doesn't have to do that atop a normal school year. None of them want to see her repeat third year, least of all Hermione herself; if she had to, she'd do the independent project after the regular school year.

She wants to examine the Statute of Secrecy. She wants to understand why everyone thinks it's so wonderful, when it was one of her chief motivations in essentially destroying her parents. She wants to actually find out about how America's done without it - no one in wizarding Britain likes to talk about that, but it's hanging in the air nonetheless. She wants to see if it can be done away with, and if doing so mightn't help prevent the next war before it can start.

She's not planning to tell anyone precisely what she's researching until she's done, of course, unless she needs Madam Pince's help finding something. But the idea is there, and it won't leave her alone.

She feels like she owes it to her parents.

***

Hogwarts doesn't seem any more crowded than usual. Padma chalks it up to the fact that, while there's essentially an extra year's worth of students, not everyone from her year elected to come back - not to mention the students who died in the battle, and the parents who sent their children to another school for at least the year.

The Slytherin table is particularly empty, even after the handful of new students are Sorted; still, Padma's glad to see it's not completely deserted. She knows full well that ambition can be of value, just as loyalty, daring or wit can be detriments. It's a wonder that everyone but the Sorting Hat seems to forget that part.

There are still some scars of the war, on the school grounds, mostly outside. Padma notices, over the first few days, that she's not the only one of the students who were there for the war that avoids going outside as much as possible. A Hogsmeade weekend might be tolerable, she thinks, but the signs of damage still visible along the shore of the lake - well, they're not ready to face that.

She spends a good deal of the first couple of days in the library, looking over the resources concerning India. To her disappointment, there aren't many, but her luck turns after discussing the matter with Madam Pince.

"I believe there are some Sanskrit volumes in the Restricted Section," she says. "Those would certainly support the sort of project you have in mind, and you have the sense to keep your head around that sort of material."

Padma smiles. "Thank you so much. I was beginning to wonder if I'd find anything at all."

"You're welcome. There's not usually much call for Indian literature here, so it tends to hide well."

When Padma sets about her search, she barely notices there's someone else in the Restricted Section until they bump into each other. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she says, "I hadn't - oh. Hello."

Hermione Granger smiles briefly, keeping her collection of books close to her chest. "Hello, Padma. Are you doing a special project as well?"

"I am, if I can just find something to work on. I'm hoping to work with the Ministry's India programs, but it's bloody difficult to find anything related to that-- aha!" She smiles, pulling a thick leatherbound volume off a shelf. "This ought to work. And you?"

"I'm... considering law, much to my own surprise. If the project sells me on it, in any case. Is Parvati doing one as well?"

Padma rolls her eyes. "Parvati doesn't even want to be back here. She wants to go into fashion, and maybe read tarot to people on the side."

Hermione snorts. "Divination."

"It's not entirely useless, as a whole - prophecy interpretation can actually be quite interesting. The way Professor Trelawney teaches it, though... I can see where you grew tired of it."

"Well, that and I didn't know my limits at the time. That was the year I tried to take everything at once; it... didn't end so well."

Padma laughs. "From what I've read, you were the only person mad enough to try that in at least fifty years." She's a bit worried about the propriety of the comment as soon as it's out of her mouth, but Hermione's still smiling; she thinks she's in the clear.

They talk through to dinner, in between staking out work tables in the Restricted Section and beginning to take notes on their projects.

***

Of everything in the Restricted Section, Hermione's the most surprised by the twin mattress on the floor, in one of the far corners. She asks about it, mostly to make sure it's not liable to attack her or anything; Madam Pince simply purses her lips.

"It sometimes proves necessary," she says, "in the course of advanced research."

She won't elaborate beyond that, so Hermione takes it to mean the mattress is there for when one works to the point of exhaustion. It's a better idea than falling asleep atop the books, anyway, and before long, she finds herself putting it to use at least twice a week. She finds Padma there about as often; it's a little comforting, to know she's not the only one utterly absorbed in her special project.

September draws to a close, and Hermione sleeps fitfully in the library one night. It's hard to do more than doze off, for some reason, and when she actually does get to sleep, it's not very restful; it's littered with nightmares about trying to fix her parents' memories and them hating her for what she did in the first place, once they know what happened. She wouldn't blame them if they did; she hates _herself_ for having done it, now that she's seen the consequences.

Jolting awake to the mid-morning sun isn't much consolation, since that means she can see the letter from St. Mungo's sticking out of her research. Some Healers tracked her father down, and promptly put him in an isolated ward; he's probably going to have to stay there for the rest of his life, while her amateur spell work tells him two contradicting realities are true and his mind completely unravels.

It's the sort of thing only she could fix, and Hermione will never have the talent to pull it off.

She's so caught up in trying not to cry that she misses Padma's entrance completely, until the other girl says something. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

She jumps. "Oh. Sorry, I... didn't sleep well."

"You seemed a bit upset yesterday. Was it - connected to that?"

"A bit, yes. Dad's in hospital."

Padma smiles a little, looking more sympathetic than amused. "I know that feeling. Mum's been in since February - all we can really do is wait and see if she recovers her senses."

"Well, yes, but did you put her there?" This is the thing Hermione can't explain to anyone else. She tried to tell Ron, but he still thinks she acted in her parents' best interests; Harry tried to listen, but admits he doesn't get it himself.

Maybe she'll have better luck with someone she didn't live with for most of the last year.

Padma's smile drops completely, and she moves to the mattress and sits down next to Hermione. "No. She got caught in a fight against three Death Eaters. Took them down with her, but not before they hit her with... something nasty, I've never wanted to know exactly what. What happened?"

"I knew they'd be in danger," Hermione says, trying to ignore how hollow her voice sounds. "Because I went with Harry and Ron, and - I hadn't told them anything, but that wouldn't stop people going after them, either to get information from them or to lure me into a trap. So I - I tried Memory Charms. Convinced them they were a childless couple who wanted nothing more than to move to Australia.

"It didn't really take on Dad. He knows something's wrong, he came back here to find out what, and he's going to be locked in St. Mungo's for the rest of his life because no one can untangle the damage."

"...I can see where you meant well, but I can definitely see where they might have been better off taking their chances. What about your mum?"

"She's as good as dead. My spell work's always better the second time round - she's still in Canberra, blissfully unaware. They got--" Her composure finally starts to break completely. "They got a _divorce_ over it, they'd never so much as _fought_ before, I never wanted this to happen..."

She trails off into full-on sobbing, and only dimly registers it when Padma pulls her into a one-armed hug.

"As I see it," Padma says, after Hermione's regained a bit of her composure, "you did what you thought was the best thing at the time, without really thinking through to the potential consequences. And you've got enough sense to regret it, now that you've seen those consequences play out."

"Oh, I've got that in spades."

"And so the question becomes, since you can't undo the damage you've already done, what do you plan to do to atone for it?"

That, at least, is a question Hermione can answer. "That's where my special project comes in, actually. And - I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread this around, I haven't told anyone other than Madam Pince, I don't want word getting out till I have something coherent."

"All right. What is it?"

"I'm taking a closer look at the Statute of Secrecy. Mostly at the fact that America never signed in, after setting up their own government. And, well, everything I've read says they've done all right for themselves so far, so maybe people here could be persuaded to do without it, eventually."

Padma considers that for a few moments. "You'll have a tough time convincing anyone of that," she finally says. "But so long as you know you're opening a can of worms with it, I see no reason not to try."

Hermione smiles, a little; she knows it's watery, but it's better than nothing. "Oh, I know it'll be hard to sell. But I think it's something people need to hear. Do you know America's never had someone try to be a Dark Lord?"

"Really? That's... quite impressive. Do you know why?"

"No, but it may have to do with better cross-cultural information. It's harder to attack something that you actually understand."

They talk for a few hours, mostly about Hermione's project (though she does ask a few questions about Padma's), before either of them go back to their books. She does feel a bit better, for having talked to someone who didn't absolve her of all responsibility for the situation - and, oddly, she thinks it helps that Padma at least knows what it's like to have a mentally unsound parent. She's avoided talking to Neville about the situation; his parents' condition is such a formative part of his life that she's not sure they could have a civil conversation about what she did to hers.

It's an odd sort of basis for a strong friendship, but Hermione isn't going to argue. Compared to primary school, she's got a treasure trove of friends, now.

***

Padma knows the dynamic between herself and Hermione is shifting. They're growing closer, and spending as much time talking about their personal lives as they do working on their projects. She doesn't pay it much mind - she has a tendency of bollocksing up interpersonal relationships, when she thinks about them too hard.

All the same, she's glad she fell asleep in the library, the night her memories of school during the war decide to come back to haunt her. She doesn't have to pretend everything's fine, not when Hermione's more than willing to hear her out.

Really, she could probably get away with being broken in the dorm, but she and Luna seem to have acquired reputations for holding the rest of Ravenclaw together; it's better if the younger students don't have to see that shattered.

Things somewhat inadvertently come to a head a few days before Halloween, as Padma tries to decipher a particularly tricky set of lines in the Sanskrit volume. She's vaguely aware that Hermione's watching her more than doing her own work, but she's too busy being puzzled by the ancients to comment. The context says something about increasing existing attraction, but to what is far from clear.

She realises she's reading it aloud when she's halfway through it. Reading it when she doesn't understand it is dangerous, especially with someone else in the room; on the other hand, leaving the spell hanging partly done would be even more so. She finishes reading the lines, then looks up.

Hermione's staring at her, but hardly in any way meant to generate upset; it's just as well, really, since Padma can't help but look at Hermione as though seeing her for the first time. Hermione's hair is frizzy and there are bags under her eyes - perhaps she's been sleeping poorly again - but it doesn't make her any less beautiful.

It only seems natural, to Padma, to lean over the table and kiss her. She knows Hermione's technically got a boyfriend (though all Hermione and Ron ever seem to do is bicker), so she doesn't intend it to last, but then Hermione's kissing back and it's more of a snog, and when Padma pulls away, she only wants more.

"We should--" Hermione pauses, taking a shaky breath. "Well, we shouldn't be over the books, in any case." It's a very minor protest, but it's one they both understand in a way that very few people would. Padma nods, and takes Hermione's hand; they go to the mattress without further discussion.

Padma's a little out of practice, but this is not, metaphorically speaking, anywhere she hasn't been before. She finally told her parents, about a month before her mother was attacked, that they'd have to look to Parvati for whatever grandchildren they were expecting; she thinks they only took the news as well as they did because Parvati's sure to marry some nice young man just as soon as she can find him.

She's fairly certain Hermione hasn't been in this position, even with Ron, so she's sure to say that Hermione's free to stop her at any time, if she's not comfortable with something. Padma doesn't _think_ the spell's going to make them do anything they wouldn't of their own free will, even if she hadn't realised she wanted it until that moment. Hermione nods, but doesn't even slow her down, let alone stop her.

Afterward, they stay on the mattress for a while. Hermione doesn't say anything; Padma doesn't know what to say, for a while. She's a bit stuck on the fact that she enjoyed that rather more than either of the previous times.

"I'm sorry," she finally says. "I shouldn't have - read that. Especially with you there."

"What was it?"

"That's what I was trying to figure out. It - the context said something about increasing pre-existing attraction, but I hadn't realised it would..." She trails off, sure she's blushing and more embarrassed by her research gaffe than anything that came of it.

Hermione smiles. "Well, I think it's a mistake I'm glad you made."

"Oh." Padma considers that for a few moments. "So... what do we do from here?"

"I don't know. We can sort that out as we go, right?"

"I should think so."

They stay there a bit longer before finally returning to their research.

***

Over the next couple of weeks, Hermione takes closer stock of the nature of her relationship with Ron.

What she'd always hoped for in a relationship is someone who can keep up with her intellectually, above all else. It's one of the key elements to being able to sustain a conversation, she feels. She's also held out some hope that she can find someone who doesn't disregard emotion, in the moments when it overpowers her logic, which is happening more now than it used to - possibly because so much has happened in the interim. The external packaging has always been a secondary concern at best.

What she has with Ron... well, it isn't measuring up in any regard, upon closer examination. He does his best to keep up with her, but they're far from intellectual equals, in the end. Their conversations, as Harry's pointed out more and more often lately, are rarely civil and frequently leave one or both of them highly upset.

This is especially true if one of them starts the conversation on an emotional target. Ron still doesn't understand why Hermione is so upset about her parents; surely, he keeps saying, she was in the right by trying to protect two innocent Muggles from the ravages of a war that was no business of theirs.

But it hurts her more and more that she didn't give them a chance to disapprove of her plan, or to try to make one of their own - or even to help, so far as they might have been able to.

It's one of many things that's starting to draw her closer to Padma. Hermione can talk to her about nearly anything under the sun, without either of them yelling - even when they passionately disagree about a subject, which she doesn't think has happened more than a few times. What's more, she understands some of Hermione's emotional hurts far better than the boys do; she knows from reading that it's very important to have someone you feel you can talk to about such problems. When she tries to discuss her problems with Harry or Ron, she usually feels more frustrated out the other end of the conversation, but when she talks to Padma, she always feels better afterward.

She's not at all sure what to do about her relationship with Ron. It's not working out at all according to plan, that much is obvious - not that she ever had more of a plan than being happy, but all their bickering says they'd be far better off as friends. Still, she can't tell how he might react if she proposes a split, or where she'd go for Christmas hols if they did. Going to the Burrow would be awkward, never mind the odds Mrs. Weasley would have something to say about Hermione breaking her son's heart.

She lets everything coast along as is for most of November. Toward the end of the month, she and Padma stay in the library far too long, but neither of them can give up a good lead when they have it; they'd risk losing track of their respective threads, and they only have a few weeks to finish their projects.

Hermione finally decides to call it a night when she drifts off mid-paragraph; two in the morning is not the time to be struggling with 18th-century political prose about someone else's government. She heads for the twin mattress, suspecting trying to walk back to the dorm would only end badly, if she's this tired.

Half an hour later, a weight settling on the other side of the mattress rouses her from what dozing off she'd managed to do.

"Hmm? Oh. Hi."

Padma smiles, a bit sheepishly. "I hope you don't mind, I just - don't think I can make it all the way to the top of Ravenclaw Tower tonight."

"Not at all. I... rather know the feeling, actually, just... with a different tower." Hermione pauses, thinking through what she just said. "Did that make any sense?"

"I got it."

There's not much room on the mattress, for two people, but it's far less uncomfortable than Hermione would have thought. Perhaps what happened the last time they shared it has something to do with that, but in any case, she's in no state to think that through at the moment. She drifts off to sleep with one of Padma's arms around her, and sleeps far more soundly than she has in months, if not since before the war escalated.

In the morning, she knows it's past time to say something to Ron.

***

Padma thinks she's made a breakthrough.

It's hard to be sure, since there aren't many volumes to be had that analyse old Sanskrit texts, but she thinks she's found a few things hidden in this one that haven't really been touched on by other people. And that's aside from the spell she read aloud, which... she's not entirely sure she can frame in an academic context.

She keeps herself quite busy writing her notes, and finally the essay itself. Hermione is equally busy, but has had something else on her mind for the better part of the last month; Padma hasn't pried, though she suspects it has something to do with their encounter. Hermione will tell her what it is in good time, she suspects.

Two days after they both sleep in the library, Hermione comes in late, looking even more thoughtful than usual. It's not the distress that comes when the situation with her parents is weighing on her mind, but she's clearly lost in thought, to the point where she just sort of stares at her work rather than working on it.

"Hermione? What's wrong?"

Hermione jumps. "Oh - sorry. It's... been an odd morning."

"How so?"

"I talked to Ron. About... where we stand. I'd been putting it off because I didn't know what was going on with... with us, and because I didn't know how he would react."

Padma nods. "How did he react?"

"He completely understood my points, for once. I didn't really mention our - situation, but he agreed that all the arguing we've done can't be helpful to anyone." Hermione sighs. "Now I just have to hope his mum doesn't hate me."

"I would ask why you're worried about that, but the Weasleys... are a bit legendary, in that regard."

Hermione smiles a little. "No doubt she's going to feel utterly betrayed by the fact that following my heart means she won't see grandchildren from me, after all but taking me in as a second daughter - never mind that she's got six children that might indulge her, and one that already is."

"They're a bit Indian in their thinking. It's a bit rare that my parents stopped after Parvati and me, especially without a boy, but..." Padma shrugs. "I think some of that had to do with the political climate at the time, as much as anything else. I told them before Mum got attacked that they have Parvati for grandchildren, and she'll be more than happy to indulge once she settles on a boy. They weren't thrilled, but Dad won't push me into anything I'm unhappy with."

"Always good." The smile starts to drop off Hermione's face. "I... can't help wondering what my parents would have to say."

Padma pulls her into a hug without a second thought. Hermione leans on her rather heavily, but that's only to be expected, under the circumstances; after she's calmed down a bit, they both go back to their research for a while.

Then Hermione puts her quill down and says, "What _is_ our situation, anyway?"

"I... don't know. I hadn't been giving it much thought, considering you had a situation with Ron up to now. What - what would you like our situation to be?"

"I'm not sure. But I'm willing to see what it turns into."

Padma smiles. "So am I."

***

Hermione finishes her research project with a week to spare before Christmas hols start; Padma's only a couple of days behind her, near enough that they decide to present on the same day. It's very nearly the only way to guarantee they'll be able to be there for each other, which is... important, at this stage in the game. It doesn't really matter that they know each other's projects nearly as well as they do their own, at this point.

If anything, Hermione would be inclined to say that actually helps, especially with her project.

Padma presents first, which is probably just as well. For all she frets in the days leading up to their presentations that she's not the best of public speakers, she does a stellar job, so far as Hermione can tell; it's a positively engrossing topic, which no doubt helps, but Padma explains it in a way that people who don't have the first clue about India have a chance of following the subject matter.

Then it's Hermione's turn. She's less worried about the fact of presenting than she is about how her subject's going to be received, but the encouraging smile Padma gives her before she sits down helps a bit. She keeps her head high and her voice strong throughout the presentation, even though smiles drop off two of the five panel members' faces as soon as she says 'America.'

Her conclusion - that the Statute of Secrecy isn't helping Britain by any stretch of the imagination, and they need to start working to undo it - was never going to be popular, and the resounding silence that fills the room when she finishes confirms that. The panel goes to one side to discuss her presentation; Hermione's more nervous than she has been in the rest of the afternoon put together.

"It's not a question of your research," Kingsley finally says (and Hermione's found it a real comfort having a familiar face on the panel). "There's no reason to doubt you read all you could, and in that, you will pass. I simply don't find myself at liberty to say how well your opinions will sit with the general public."

"I'm well aware of that, sir," she says. "Still, I felt it was high time the point was made, even if the odds anyone will truly listen are low at the moment."

That's a better reaction than she'd feared, all things considered; at least she knows her marks aren't in jeopardy anymore. Still, she doesn't fully relax until after the panel leaves the room, leaving only Hermione and Padma.

Padma smiles. "I thought it was brilliant."

"Thank you. I'm probably lucky I got out of it with my marks intact, all things considered."

"Yes, but you did. Anyway - I think we're allowed to go down to Hogsmeade on our own, at this point? If you wanted to. I - thought it might be nice, to celebrate being done with these things. And ignore the fact that we don't know what's coming next."

Hermione's sure she's blushing, but she nods. "I'd like that. Maybe... maybe just us? I think there'll be a party in the works as soon as Luna hears about this - she's been saying for a while that we all need something to smile about."

"I wouldn't be surprised. All right. Let's meet at the lake at six?"

"That sounds good. I'll see you then."

Padma smiles, and Hermione holds the picture in her mind as she goes back to the dorm.

***

It's odd, to be packing up her part of the dorm at Christmas, but Padma's also relieved to have school behind her, finally. Perhaps in about a year she'll miss it, and start looking for a university to apply to - that'll likely take her to America, as there are no wizarding universities in Europe and the Muggle ones won't take her Hogwarts credits - but for now, she's glad to just be done, and ready to apply for jobs.

She starts looking over her options, over the beginning of the holiday; Parvati does quite a bit of sulking that she's got to go back to Hogwarts in January, but Padma shrugs it off. As she sees it, Parvati had her chance to get out of school early, and elected not to take it. Their father also refuses to take sides, and simply says he's proud of both of them.

On Christmas Eve, they go to St. Mungo's; Padma isn't sure if her mother's truly showing signs of improvement, or if it's only that she wants to see her whole again so badly that she's imagining some responses. When she can't take it anymore, she goes out in the hall - and happens to hear some very familiar sobbing, which she follows to the cafeteria for family members of patients.

"Hermione?"

Hermione starts, then treats Padma to a very watery smile. "Hi, Padma. I was just - don't worry about me, it's--"

"You're in here crying your eyes out and you expect me not to worry? What's wrong?"

"I... came to visit Dad. He only vaguely recognised me about half the time, if that. And I - don't think it's what I needed, after the afternoon I had."

Padma winces. "Mrs. Weasley finally find out you and Ron broke up?"

"Over family breakfast. As far as anyone else could get a word in edgewise, I think more of them are on my side, but... in the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley's word is law, and she said she didn't want to see me until I 'came to my senses.'" Hermione laughs, but it's unmistakably hollow. "Funny, but that's what I thought I was doing when I broke up with Ron."

"Well, you know that, and Ron knows that, and he'll find someone sooner or later. Hopefully that'll settle his mother's nerves."

"Unless he settles down with some nice boy and the whole thing blows up in her face."

Padma laughs. "You do realise you're talking about the boy who was macking on Lavender Brown for half of sixth year."

"I think he was mostly doing that to annoy me. And... well, previous relationships don't necessarily mean anything. Just look at me."

"You have a point there." They sit in silence for a few moments, then Padma adds, "You... don't have anywhere else to go, do you?"

"Not really. I was going to Floo Luna, after I'd calmed down a bit, but I don't know if her house is... really ready for company at the moment."

"She said her father had been working on it, but I do take your point. And - I can ask Dad if you could come stay with us, at least for the hols. I'm planning to go flat-hunting after Parvati's back at school, and you'd be more than welcome to join in that, but - for now, at least, this is a horrible time to be alone in the world, save for a half-mad father."

Hermione smiles again, with a few less tears behind it this time. "I'd like that. I... don't think I realised how much I was going to miss you, until I got to the Burrow."

"I know the feeling." Padma pulls Hermione out of her seat and into a hug. "We'll go talk to Dad in a bit - I think he's still telling Mum things in the hopes she'll hear them. That should give you some time to calm down. And from there, well... we'll be able to figure it out, once we have a chance."

They're both very smart, after all, and further catching up reveals that Hermione's got a job offer with Magical Law Enforcement, despite her controversial opinion in her final project. Padma's confident they won't have any problems sorting out the rest.


End file.
